Month: June 2017

June 27th 2017: Over half a year ago, I was really struggling with my moods. I felt the rush of caffeine kick in after a long mug of coffee and that brought on mood swings and bouts of depression. My teeth started to become affected to, they would feel sore after a hot drink. When I was having therapy earlier this year, I was told that the recommended amount of caffeine to consume per day was between 3-5 cups. I was drinking double that amount.

I had to train my mind not to rely on drinking tea, coffee and hot chocolate. And instead, look for alternative drinks that contained no caffeine whatsoever. I stumbled on Tesco’s own Clementine juice which I have to say is my favourite fruit juice of all time. I loved the flavours and how refreshing it was on a hot spring’s day. Now, I’m a proud caffeine free tea drinker and honestly, I feel so much better for it. Thanks to a choice conversation with my Mum, I started buying strawberry and raspberry fruit tea from Twinings tea and immediately fell in love with the whole concept of drinking healthier teas. I drink a wide variety of flavours and always make sure to check the labels to see if it is caffeine free (and for a added bonus, sugar free) so that it doesn’t affect my teeth too much.

On my Instagram (almost at 1,000 followers ahhh) people love to share what tea they are drinking. And now I’m happy to receive free fruit/green/herbal teas to feature in my photos as well as drink them+promote them so feel free to get in contact if you would like to send some tea to me.

I will leave a photo of a mug of fruit tea I’ve just brewed. It’s wild berry flavour from Lidi’s and the brand is Knightsbridge. 79p for a box of 40 teabags!

Alice x

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Another Friday has come around and I’ve really made it my aim to cut down the number of books on my TBR list which currently stands at over 1,000 books by finding the best time of the day to sit back and read which is between 7-8PM at night. I’ve posted some new reviews up on my Goodreads so I’m going to copy+paste the links here.

The reason I’m posting this here is because I truly feel that the way I was reviewing books was quite confusing. I would throw everything in one long piece of text that I am pretty sure readers were finding it a pain to deal with. So, I’ve split my review up into how I acquired the book, basic info such as characters and plotline and then bullet point lists on the things I liked in the book and things I wasn’t keen on. Ending things up is two questions: Would I recommend the book? Would I read more books by this author?

Remember! If you found my review helpful, don’t forget to hit the Like button at the side of each review. What this does is it promotes to your Goodreads followers that you’ve enjoyed the review and then, they see it as a notification on their home page and that means more people will see that I review books for authors/publishers! I am currently 66th in the UK for the month of June under Best Reviewers, all thanks to the users who hit the like button on my reviews.

Thanks so much for reading, have a great weekend!

Alice x

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As I sit down at the family computer to type this, the weather outside is hot and sunny at 32*C. The UK currently is experiencing one of the hottest heatwaves in over a decade, and for me, no sign of dark clouds means no signs of depression. Or does it? Lately, I’ve been witnessing some friends learn how to drive or go to festivals. They are LIVING their lives. I am LIVING my life too, just not the way that people expect me to live my life. I really don’t have time for arguing over who is going out with who on Love Island or clubbing till three in the morning in a dress that barely covers my butt. UH UH *shakes head*.

I believe that my happy place will always be with books, bookstores, book events, my bedroom surrounded with growing piles of unread books. My happy place is almost complete. What is missing though is my attraction and desire to feel loved by a member of the opposite sex. I know that some people who have followed my book reviewing since the beginning will know that I have dated a few people but things never worked out and books was always to blame. Me being the booknerd and them not liking it. I’m up for finding someone that I can truly call my own. On Instagram for example, I have a few people that I’m friendly with who are guys. And trust me, that has put my faith back into humanity. Guys do read and love books, it does happen. So no more searching for a guy who doesn’t read books!

I do consider myself to be awkward at times, sometimes feeling like an utter nuisance when all I want is just to raise a smile after a long, difficult day. When I met some guys through Instagram, I felt extremely pleased. The ones I talk to are all friendly and like me, have a passion for sharing what their latest favourite read is.

However, by being part of an online social community like Instagram, this has made me realise that my followers all have their own lives. Jobs, somewhere they call home, other hobbies. Most of them live abroad in countries like the US, Japan and Australia. One day, I would love to travel and meet the people that are my online pen friends as I will put it causally.

My other plans for now are just to be friendly but also to keep hoping and wishing for that special moment to pop and my happy place is truly 100% there to witness.

Let me know what your dream happy place is and whether you have found it!

Alice x

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Let’s face it, we all live busy lives. Commuting to work, picking up kids from school, studying a degree at University. Lots of us love to read but due to packed schedules, it can take days, weeks and even months to finish reading a book.

To distract ourselves from the daily grind, headphones are a distraction. One plug-in to a iPhone or Laptop on a busy train, we forget about why we’re even travelling because of this. Services such as Audible have really taken off due to the thousands of audiobooks that are downloaded and listened to every second of the day. The voice of us, the people, reading stories that are bestsellers and the greatest classics transport us to worlds and settings far beyond the ones we know.

I’ve known for a few years now that if I was one of those voices helping to transport a listener on a journey, then that would be make me happy. Being “The Voice” that sticks with you. Since this vision, I have gone away and perfected a number of accents, read hundreds of books and studied how to pronounce words correctly. Also with the advice of others, controlling my breathing and letting the words flow to me naturally as if I was the listener myself.

For years, a lot of people have told me that I read aloud well to others but I was never one for performing arts. My old secondary school here in England specialised in the performing arts and science. But I never liked wearing costumes or learning new dance routines, music was fine but not the other two subjects. Yet somehow, I found that speaking into a microphone in a booth didn’t faze me at all.

One person suggested to me that I start a YouTube channel where I could record myself reading chapters from books but not showing my face since I prefer my appearance to be anonymous. Two things stopped this: One, no recording equipment and two, problems with copyright. Would Audible complain about it? That idea comes back to me a lot and if the support was there, then I would do it.

If I ever got the chance to record an audiobook of me reading a book that everyone knows well and loves or even one that needs more attention, then I would feel on top of the world. Living one of my dreams out like a scene from a movie.

One thing I did notice a few months after stalking (well, probably not the right word there) but anyway, Audible reviews from users. There was one audiobook I won’t name here but people were complaining about it since the person reading the story was American and the main character in the book concerned was British yet the person reading it spoke with an American accent. For me, I would have felt extremely annoyed by that.

I’ve discovered that to be a successful audiobook actress, you first need to read the book concerned, familiarise yourself with the characters and their voices and then make notes on this. Then, picture them in your mind as you read out pieces of dialogue spoken by the character.

If any of my readers have acted and recorded for audiobooks then I would love to hear from you.

Again regarding the idea, should it ever come into fruition then I would be looking for authors (trad or self-published) who need someone to read/record an audiobook edition of a story they have written.

Signing off for now.

Alice x

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June 9th 2017- Coming off the back of pulling an all-nighter to watch with baited breath the results of the general election here in England, I realised that my future and the steps I take will be extremely important. In life, sometimes you have to experience the dark clouds to find light at the end of the tunnel. Where I live, the voting turnout was great. The results were declared at around 3am and going the way of the person I wanted to see as MP. It was a shock to be honest as the polls predicted otherwise but now, this turn of events gives me hope for the first time in a long while. So, why does creative writing come into this? I’ll explain.

I really want to see Creative Writing as a huge part of my future but in the last few years, that has rapidly decreased to just a fingertip of a dream. The hundreds of projects that I started but never finished, the word documents left untouched for months, I was mortified. I mean, this is a blogger who wants to study Creative Writing and Publishing at University and yet, she isn’t able to finish something? I was told by some people not to go to University at all, that I would have better luck working as a secretary in a office. No! That’s not where I see myself.

But with this small light of hope for my home city, this positive change has started to set a motivational boost for me. I don’t want to write a story about politics but I do want to write and create characters that become positive role modals for others, stories that don’t paint a damp picture but radiant a bright sunshine.

As I prepare to start writing online again, all I can hope for is that readers give me a second chance to start and finish the stories I want to tell.

Alice x

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Hello followers! It’s Alice from Married To Books here. I did take an extended hiatus from my blog which was incredibly sudden I know. But there were events that happened within the last few weeks that have been a real shock to everyone around the world. My Anxiety also played up so that is why I decided to hold off from posting anything. But, I am back now with a tour post to help kick off the blog tour for the YA Romance Internet Famous by Danika Stone. As always, this post will contain details about the book, purchase links, spoiler-free review and a link to a giveaway that is running alongside the tour. Hope you enjoy it!

Internet sensation Madison Nakama has it all! Her pop-culture rewatch site has a massive following, and fans across the world wait on her every post and tweet. Even Madi’s dismal romantic life seems ready to take off as Laurent, a fellow geek (and unfairly HOT French exchange student!) starts flirting with her in the comments section of her blog. But Laurent’s not the only one watching for Madi’s replies.

Internet fame has a price, and their online romance sparks the unwanted attention of a troll. When Madi’s “real life” hits a rough patch, she feels her whole world crumbling. With Laurent’s support, can Madi rally her friends across the globe to beat the troll, or will he succeed in driving her away from everything―and everyone―she loves?

Danika Stone is an author, artist, and educator who discovered a passion for writing fiction while in the throes of her Masters thesis. A self-declared bibliophile, Danika now writes novels for both adults (The Intaglio Series and Ctrl Z) and teens (Icarus and All the Feels). When not writing, Danika can be found hiking in the Rockies, planning grand adventures, and spending far too much time online. She lives with her husband, three sons, and a houseful of imaginary characters in a windy corner of Alberta, Canada.

The first book in Danika’s upcoming Tathagata series (Edge of Wild) was selected as a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel of the Year Award (2013). Edge of Wild (Stonehouse CA) will be released March 2016. Danika’s YA novel, All the Feels (Macmillan US), will be released June 2016.

MY REVIEW: If you are a blogger or a youtuber, then you can relate to some of the events in Internet Famous very well. Madison has a blog and is a huge online sensation until an anonymous troll threatens to take down her blog and ruin her final year project so that she doesn’t graduate from online high school. Online, she meets Laurent, a French exchange student who happens to be incredibly handsome. His looks did remind me of Étienne from Anna and the French Kiss (One of my favourite contemporary novels!) Together, they team up to save Madison’s project but when things take a twist, their friendship and blossoming attractions for one another are thrown on the line. During all of these events, Madison has to deal with a Mom leaving for England and a younger sister Sarah with special educational needs. My heart did break when Sarah goes missing because she couldn’t cope with Mom leaving. I love the storytelling aspects of using text messages, blog posts and tweets to help tell the story. It was an easy read and one that was very enjoyable.

4 out of 5 stars!

Giveaway: THIS IS ONLY OPEN TO RESISDENTS WHO LIVE IN EITHER THE US OR CANADA.

That’s it for now, thanks so much for reading and supporting this blog! Don’t forget to stop by the other blogs that are participating on the tour and thanks again to Xpresso, Swoon Reads and Danika for the opportunity to take part in this.